PRIVATE PARTS

We learned that certain children at Thorncliffe Park Public School would be taught that they have "private body parts" rather than penises and vaginas. I guess that means that boys and girls are all the same below the waist at Thorncliffe Park. How is that going to work?

This week, a number of our bloggers were moved to give spirited takes on what we're teaching kids -- and ourselves -- about gender and our bodies. The posts ranged from the oft overlooked destructive effect that "girl power" has on boys (written by a blogger whose young son likes pink skirts and serving tea), to the confusion that comes from a culture in which successful women deliver a message of female empowerment -- but do so "half-naked, through pouting lips while humping the ground or spreading their legs." Taken together, they offer a fascinating look at what feminism and sexuality mean to us today.

Watching The View this morning the controversy whirred around reproductive parts, and what we, as parents, should be teaching our children to call them. The consensus: It just doesn't seem right to hear a little girl referring to her breasts. Boobies is much cuter. Because we're concerned about the cuteness of these body parts on a seven-year-old?

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